No waiver? US wants all countries to import zero oil from Iran

India’s deal for S-400 with Russia and its reluctance to stop oil import from Iran were two sticking points on which maiden 2+2 India-US dialogue did not provide much clarity. India has already finalised its air defence system agreement with Russia. It has also repeatedly conveyed to the US that Iran remained an important source of crude. Sachin Parashar | TNN | September 07, 2018, 07:56 IST

Highlights

After the 2+2 dialogue, Mike Pompeo said that the US still wants every country to reduce its oil imports from Iran to zero,

India has continued to maintain that it is not going to take a decision on oil imports from Iran under any compulsion,

New Delhi: Even after the maiden 2+2 India-US dialogue, the US remained non-committal on whether or not it would allow India a waiver from sanctions meant to prevent energy imports from Iran. Similarly, it wasn’t clear immediately after the talks if the US would allow India to go ahead with its S-400 anti-aircraft missile defence system from Russia without invoking Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

India’s deal for S-400 with Russia and its reluctance to stop oil import from Iran were seen as the two main sticking points in the discussions in the run up to the 2+2 engagement.

After the 2+2, in an interaction with journalists, secretary of state Mike Pompeo said that the US still wanted every country to reduce its oil imports from Iran to zero. India has continued to maintain that it is not going to take a decision on oil imports from Iran under any compulsion.

"We have told the Indians consistently, as we have told every nation, that on November 4 the sanctions with respect to Iranian crude oil will be enforced, and that we will consider waivers where appropriate, but that it is our expectation that the purchases of Iranian crude oil will go to zero from every country, or sanctions will be imposed," said Pompeo.

"So we’ll work with the Indians. We committed that we would do that. Many countries are in a place where they – it takes a little bit of time to unwind, and we’ll work with them, I am sure, to find an outcome that makes sense," he added.

Pompeo went on to say that the US mission was to make sure that Iran "doesn’t engage in malign behaviour with wealth that comes from countries around the world, thus the purpose of the sanctions."

When asked if President Trump could grant India a waiver from CAATSA on the S-400 deal with Russia, Pompeo said no decision had been taken yet.

"We are working to impose CAATSA Section 231 in a way that is appropriate and lawful and to exercise that waiver authority only where it makes sense. And we as a team, the national security team, will work on that, and as we continue to have these conversations with India about that, I think come to an outcome that makes sense for each of our two countries," said Pompeo.

India has already finalised its air defence system agreement with Russia. It has also repeatedly conveyed to the US on Iran that Iran remained an important source of crude. Considering that only Iran supplies the type of crude which some refineries in India require, it is impossible for the government to stop importing from Iran altogether.